Page 29 of The Wolf Moon

“You can leave me here,” I gasped with difficulty, “You don’t have to stay.”

“Shut up, Milena,” Roman finally growled angrily. His grip tightened and I whimpered, my skin already sensitive from the heat. He turned his glare from me to the lake, where the moon shined oddly along the service like the eye of the Goddesses themselves, watching and judging his every move.

Roman abruptly shifted me, lifting me up until I was face to face with him. He gripped my upper arms roughly, shaking me just enough to get my attention as my vision blurred around me. I blinked forcefully, taking in his features in my state of delirium.

“Give me one reason,” He said dangerously, obviously frustrated. “One reason why I should let you live tonight, Mila.” The pain had begun to dull and my mind was growing fuzzier by the minute. His request made no sense to me. I only stared into his steely eyes, hypnotized by them as though they were as mesmerizing as the flames of the bonfire.

With a hint of insanity, I leaned forward slowly, as though approaching an entirely different fire. Roman froze altogether and he remained unmoved as I bravely brushed my lips over his briefly. I’d never kissed a man before. It was like a cold heat thrilled through me, unlike any feeling I had felt before. And even if death was what drove me to it, I couldn’t find it in myself to be embarrassed.

Roman huffed as I pulled away, obvious frustration coating his features.

“Shift,” He demanded me abruptly. I closed my eyes briefly, exhausted, and he tightened his grip enough to make me yelp. His power rose from within him, reaching out to me firmly before he repeated that familiar demand, “Stop fighting me and shift, damn it.”

“I’m not a wolf,” I sharply responded, strength suddenly growing in my voice.

“You can deny it all you want, but I know a wolf when I see one,” Roman antagonized me. I was suddenly becoming irritated and much more aware. His familiar power pushed against me, demanding and demanding that same request. “Now shift, Mila.”

“I can’t,” I said, but whimpered as that same sensation within me began to stir in response. I could feel it under my skin, brushing against me like cold liquid. It was unnatural. The mark on my neck burned painfully and I tried to reach for it, trying to distract myself from those strange feelings, but Roman pulled my hand down firmly.

“Shift,” He repeated with a growl, anger pulsing through his demand dangerously. My heart leaped to my throat when I felt that power try to reach beyond my skin. The forest became loud around me, a roaring of noise in what was only silent before. I was quite aware of how close Roman was to me and his scent was purely intoxicating. I leaned forward to breathe him in and his chest rumbled with frustration as he held me back. “Shift, Mila. You have to shift.”

“I can’t,” I cried out just before yelping when my hands began to change in front of me. It was like ice around fire, pushing back the fever within me. My fingernails formed into hesitant claws and back, as though it were just a trick of the eye. I cried out in fear. “My hands! What-”

“Shift,” Roman pushed harder, his power tearing around me forcefully. My hands deformed, claws forming unnaturally and with it my mouth began to change as well. My teeth felt strange in my mouth, sharper and stronger. Roman moved me in his grip, pulling me to him sharply. “Now’s your chance, Mila.”

I panted uncertainly, staring into his eyes with raw fear.

“My chance for what?” I asked, panicked.

“Revenge,” He answered simply, turning his head to bare his throat to me in the most uncharacteristic way. For a moment, I stared at his throat with surprise. And then I understood what he meant. He wanted me to mark him as he had marked me. Only I was still stuck on the idea that I wasn’t one of them.

As I looked at that curve of his shoulder, the power within me stirred excitedly. His scent was far too intoxicating to ignore and the power was far too demanding. It was clear what I was supposed to do if I wanted to live.

I took a sharp breath and then I leaned forward uncertainly. With hesitation, my lips hovered over his shoulder, brushing over his skin carefully until his breath hitched with surprise. I liked the sound, oddly enough, but I didn’t have it in me to bite down. I leaned away, closing my eyes firmly.

“I can’t,” I repeated, shaking my head. “I can’t bite you. The thought of it…” Abrupt pain tore through me and I cried out as Roman tensed against me in response. His hands suddenly gripped my face firmly and I opened my eyes wide to face him.

“For once, stop fighting,” Roman insisted and it took me only a moment to realize he was the one pleading me. An injury to me was an injury to him. He didn’t like the feel of death despite the fact that it was what he so desperately wanted for himself. I closed my eyes again, breathing as though I was about to dive into water, and then I pushed myself forward.

I struck his shoulder, biting down as hard as I could manage in my state. The response was immediate. It was as though the power within me stretched beyond my skin, an animal reaching out to that beast within Roman. With my mark, the mate bond was completed. I felt very much molded into him and just as quickly I was myself again.

I released Roman far quicker than he had released me. I fell to the ground and crawled back, the taste of his blood in my mouth. Roman didn’t move. He remained crouched on the ground, panting heavily in response to the mark. I felt the fever fade within me rapidly, being replaced by a different, more pleasurable fever.

As I lay on the ground, I felt something stirring within me dangerously. My skin crawled with it. It throbbed in my heart and burned in my veins. It wasn’t painful, but at the same time it felt unnatural. I rolled onto my knees and pushed myself to my feet, looking at my hands which trembled before me.

“Mila,” Roman growled, obviously struggling with his own beast. I glanced at him, watching as his features shifted just briefly before he smothered them back into human form with difficulty. My breath hitched in my throat and in a sudden panic, I did what I tend to do best.

I ran.

Fourteen

Chapter 13

The forest was a roar of sounds around me, wave after wave crashing through me as I stumbled through the path before me. My heart ached within me, demanding that I turn back the direction I came; back to him. But the further I moved away, the more that crawling sensation and unnatural deforming of my flesh simmered back into something familiar and safe.

I wasn’t sure how long I had ran for before my legs finally had slowed down, but within that time howls had only grown among the night in magnitude. At first, I hadn’t noticed them, but now that my panic had begun to subside if only a tiny bit, I paused to listen to the symphony within the night.

My senses were so much more amplified, more so than I could understand. I didn’t know what I was anymore, but I knew I definitely wasn’t human. Humans didn’t grow claws and fangs like I had only moments before. Humans couldn’t listen to the sound of animals crying into the night and understand the meaning behind them.

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